Syracuse man to recreate biggest US hoax ever: Cardiff Giant

Mike Greenlar / The Post StandardArtist Ty Marshal of Syracuse with an early working replica of his Cardiff Giant in Lipe Art Park on West Fayette St. in Syracuse.. The finished replica will be full size and should be completed in September

Syracuse artist Ty Marshal's next project is a hoax.

Marshal plans to create a replica of the Cardiff Giant -- a 10-foot-tall "petrified man" that became a national sensation when it was discovered in Cardiff in 1879. It was revealed to be fake several months later.

The story is one of the greatest hoaxes in U.S. history, according to U.S. News & World Report.

He plans to begin working on the project in mid-August and needs about $3,000 in donations or sponsorships to finance it, Marshal said. He wants to reveal the replica Oct. 16 in Lipe Art Park to commemorate the 142nd anniversary of the Cardiff Giant discovery. The original giant was created by George Hull, an atheist who created the hoax after attending a Methodist gathering in which parishioners professed to believe that biblical giants once walked the Earth.

"Hull wanted to juke people," Marshal said. "He wanted to see how easy it was for them to believe something."

The giant was buried and later discovered on the property of Hull's cousin, William Newell, who put a tent around the giant and charged 25 cents to see it. After the Syracuse Journal reported on the giant, Newell raised the price to 50 cents and people came "by the wagonload."

According to Natural History magazine, Hull, a cigar manufacturer from Binghamton, quarried a large block of gypsum in Iowa, and had marble cutters carve it into the rough likeness of a man. Hull drove darning needles into a wooden block to hammer the statue, hoping to simulate pores. He then dumped sulfuric acid on it to simulate erosion.

Ten days after the discovery, the giant was purchased for $23,000 by David Hannum, who put it on display in Syracuse and raised the admission price to $1.